Tab Article

Ratings: ★★★★☆ (4.2/5)
Genre: Biography / Memoir / Legal History / Political History / Sri Lankan Non‑Fiction

Book Review:
Below the Bench is a compelling biography and memoir of Vernon H. Gunasekera – a distinguished Sri Lankan attorney-at-law, journalist, and political activist. After five decades at the Criminal Bar, Gunasekera left an indelible mark on Sri Lanka's legal and political landscape. He was a founding secretary of the Lanka Samasamaja Party, a communist and Trotskyist ideologue, and the nephew of Sir Oliver Goonetilleke, Ceylon's first Governor-General.

The book highlights his pivotal role in the famous Bracegirdle case (1936), where he filed a writ of Habeas Corpus against the British Governor's deportation order, leading to a landmark Supreme Court ruling that protected free speech. Additionally, Gunasekera was renowned for his journalistic eloquence in the long-running ''Below the Bench'' column in the Sunday Observer.

This work serves as an invaluable record of colonial-era justice, fundamental rights, and political dissent in Sri Lanka. Essential reading for law students, historians, and anyone interested in Sri Lanka's struggle for justice and freedom.